The complete versions of all three demos Gene Simmons recorded with Eddie & Alex Van Halen can now be heard.
YouTuber ShockMe1994 had uploaded “Christine Sixteen” and “Have Love Will Travel” back in October. Just recently he uploaded the the last of three tracks – “Tunnel Of Love” – to his channel.
Simmons officially released the long sought after recordings in November, 2017 as part of his 151-song box set “Vault”.
Here’s the back story on the three songs from Van Halen biographer Greg Renoff:
Back in October 1976, Simmons saw an unsigned Van Halen performing at the Starwood Club in Hollywood. Knocked out by the band’s potential, Simmons took the four musicians into the studio to record a demo of Van Halen material and attempted, unsuccessfully, to get them a record deal.
In the months that followed, Simmons went on the road with KISS. In April 1977, he returned to Los Angeles to find that Van Halen had signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records. Simmons, of course, had his band’s own recording career to worry about, and toward that end, called Edward and Alex and asked them to go into the studio with him to lay down demos for KISS’s upcoming ‘Love Gun’ album.
The brothers agreed, and entered Village Recorders studio in Los Angeles alongside Simmons. With an irked David Lee Roth (who believed Simmons had designs to persuade the brothers to abandon Van Halen in favor of some sort of KISS-related endeavor) looking on, Edward and Alex cut “Tunnel of Love,” “Got Love For Sale,” and “Christine Sixteen” with Simmons. Perhaps most notably, Edward composed the melodic solo that became the centerpiece of the latter tune; reportedly, KISS guitarist Ace Frehley replicated Edward’s solo note-for-note on ‘Love Gun’.
“TUNNEL OF LOVE”
“HAVE LOVE WILL TRAVEL (GOT LOVE FOR SALE)”
“CHRISTINE SIXTEEN”
Shop Official Van Halen Shirts at Van Halen Store!